Sms Kaiser: Bring Deeps, Scapa Flow, Orkney

HY30SW 8001 3161 0002

N58 52.95 W3 11.1833

NLO: Bring Deeps [name centred HY 300 022]

Holm of Houton [name: HY 315 029]

Calf of Cava [name: HY 322 006]

Cava [name: ND 327 995]

Barrel of Butter [name: HY 352 009]

Point of Tuberry (Cava) [name: HY 334 993]

Stromness [name: HY 253 090]

Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].

For other ships within this group, see:

HY30SW 8003 Prinzregent Luitpold (battleship)

HY30SW 8005 Kaiserin (battleship)

HY30SW 8006 Karlsruhe (cruiser)

ND39NW 8106 Derfflinger (battlecruiser)

HY30SW 8013 Konig Albert (battleship)

HY30SE 8006 Baden (battleship: secondary location)

ND39NW 8041 Seydlitz (battlecruiser)

ND39NW 8045 Moltke (battlecruiser)

ND39NW 8049 Hindenburg (battlecruiser)

ND39NW 8050 Von der Tann (battlecruiser)

ND39NW 8051 Nurnberg (cruiser).

Formerly entered as Site no. 8841.

For general plans of High Seas Fleet (Internment Formation) wrecks in Scapa Flow, see Van der Vat 1986 (endpapers), Smith 1989, 4, Macdonald 1998, 19 and George 1999, 35.

Raised by Cox and Danks, 1929. Noted as foul ground.

P L Smith 1989.

Listed among 'German salvage sites'.

G Ridley 1992.

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 19

Circumstances of Loss Details

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The German battleship KAISER was scuttled.

Surveying Details

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1919. A Dangerous wreck, with the least depth 1.1 metres, is reported at 58 52 57N, 003 11 11W.

10 August 1928. Messrs Cox and Danks are authorised to proceed with salvage operations and divers go to work sealing up leaks etc.

5 December 1928. The work of preparation is still proceeding and KAISER was finally raised on 10 March 1929. The vessel was then towed to Rosyth.

Source: Jutland to Junkyard, by S C George

23 April 1929. The wreck's former position is now considered foul.

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

Length: 564ft (172m)

Beam: 95ft 3ins (29.1m)

Displacement: 24,380 tons

Propulsion: steam turbines; 3 propellers; 30/35,000 shp; 21/23 kts

Armour: belt 13.75ins (350mm); turrets 11.75ins (300mm)

Armament: 10 x 30.5cm (12ins: 50 cal: twin turrets); 14 x 15cm (5.9ins: 45 cal: single mountings); 6 x 8.8cm (3.4ins: 45 cal: single mountings); 4 x 8.8cm AA (3.4ins: 45 cal: single mountings); 5 x 50cm (19.7ins) torpedo tubes

Complement: 1136/1218

This battleship was the first and name-ship of the five-strong Kaiser class, the second class of German Dreadnoughts. She was built at Kiel Dockyard, being laid down in October 1909, launched 22 March 1911 and completed in October 1912. She fought in the Third Battle Squadron at the Battle of Jutland (May 1916) and was the best-disciplined heavy ship in the Internment Formation. Although listing slightly, she was salvaged by Cox and Danks on 30 March 1929 without difficulty and in an inverted attitude, the conning tower structure being artificially compressed into the hull (against a concrete-filled boiler) to prevent snagging. The wreck was broken up by the Alloa Shipbreaking Company at Rosyth.

This ship may be considered as falling within the Bring Deeps group of heavy ships, which were scuttled within the area defined by Holm of Houton [name: HY 315 029], Calf of Cava [name: HY 322 006] and Green Head (Hoy) [name: ND 303 993].

The cited location of this wreck falls about 0.45nm SW of Calf of Cava light, in a charted depth of about 18m, and within what is apparently an extensive area of foul ground. The 'remains of a wreck, or other foul area' are indicated at this location; the nature of the seabed is not specified locally but appears variable. No record of a diver survey is apparently available, but the survival of portable artifacts, loose fittings and (possibly) detached structural components appears probable.

Bring Deeps may be understood as a south-eastwards extension of Hoy Sound. It has a generally flat bottom at a charted depth of between 35 and 50m; the seabed type is defined sparingly but is apparently sandy. An area of spoil ground is noted around N58 53.9 W3 12.2 [HY 30 01], and may attest to the former presence of the High Seas Fleet.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 3 January 2003.

H M Le Fleming 1961; G Bennett 1983; D Van der Vat 1986; R Macdonald 1990; S C George 1999; [Jane] 2001.

HO Chart 35 (1980, revised 1991).

p. 46, fig. 33 image captured by GeoZui3D visualiser (colour, annotated)

pp. 46 survey results

Diver survey of the salvage site of this vessel recorded 'masts, spotlight platforms and the battle bridge'.

NMRS, MS/829/63

This vessel is considered a 'casualty' rather than a craft on account of its successful salvage, the available evidence being written rather than material. In the absence of diver survey, however, artifacts, fittings and, possibly, structural elements may survive on or in the seabed at the location of scuttling. Depressions in the seabed may also represent the locations of the turrets or superstructure.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 10 January 2003.